Hello from Kyiv!

Well, we made it!  As of last Tuesday, we are officially residents of Kyiv, Ukraine. The transition has been surprisingly smooth so far and we have enjoyed exploring our new neighborhood and city. Before I can post about our first days here though, I want to make sure and record our last couple of weeks in Alexandria. Saying goodbye to friends of four years is tough, especially when you aren't supposed to be within six feet of them.  ;)  We made the best of it though and bent a few rules to get a couple of goodbye hugs and pictures.  Here are some of the memories..........

I made the judgement call to do haircuts for the girls and me before leaving.  This is their after pic.  Under normal circumstances I would have waited, but I figured doing it in the US would be easier and possibly less risky than waiting.  Also, we were really shaggy.  ;)  

We walked to George Mason one last time to say goodbye to teachers and collect everything from their desks.  It was bitter sweet for sure.......seeing them walking ahead of me with their backpacks on and knowing it would be the last of so many.  The girls were troopers though and didn't seem too sad to say goodbye to their school.

We continued our tradition of chickfila lunch on the last day of school.  Usually we meet in a park, but this year was in a backyard.  #THANKSCOVID

These pics are examples of the social distancing rules that we decided to bend a little for the sake of our goodbyes.  

We also celebrated Father's Day.  The girls were so excited to give Peter his cards and gifts.  

We couldn't ask for a better Daddy.  

In a major oversight on my part, I let the movers pack every single toy in the house, so the girls had absolutely nothing to do the last couple of weeks we were in Alexandria.  We ordered them these polly pockets as a consolation prize.  

Last book club.  :(   I started this group the first month we were in Alexandria by inviting literally every woman I knew to join.  It ended up sticking and being one of my favorite things about our time in Virginia.  We had an awesome last meeting on Sarah's beautiful patio.  

Ms. Jessica hosted a fancy backyard dinner for the big girls as a goodbye for Susannah and Lauren and Alexis, who moved to Indiana on the exact same day we moved.  Susannah was so excited to get dressed up. 

I let her wear my earrings and a little blush and lipgloss.  I couldn't believe how old she looked in these pictures.  

Little brother Cole was the waiter.

These girls......kindergarten seems like yesterday.

They had multiple courses and felt so special.  It was such a special night.  

This was our last COVID birthday parade.  This time for Eleanor's 9th birthday.  

And this was our last bittersweet play date with the Aikens.   Leaving these friends who have become family was not fun.  

And then we had the last playdate with the Buchanans.  Which was at a friend's awesome backyard pool.  

The kids were so happy to be swimming that I totally forgot to take a posed picture.  I was worried that SA didn't get to have refresher swim lessons this spring, but as evidenced by this picture, I think she was fine without them.  ;)

It was a great way to spend the afternoon while the movers were packing our storage shipment.  

And then, moving day was upon us.  

This house was such a blessing and will forever be dear to our hearts.  So many memories, so many firsts happened here.  It was hard to say goodbye.

But we managed to do it because we weren't headed to Kyiv just yet.........we had a vacation to enjoy first.  We rented a beach house in Oak Island, North Carolina with our friends the Paulsens.  We had a couple of days to kill on the way though, so we made a random stop at an AirB&B in rural NC, which turned out to be really fun too.

 We stayed in a garage apartment behind a nice woman's house.  She had the place equipped with lots of games, which we enjoyed to escape the heat.  The girls loved their first experience with Battleship.  

And all of us loved Jenga.  

And Trivial Pursuit family edition was so much fun too.  

The house had an above ground pool that we all enjoyed since it was 100 degrees while we were there.  

It turned out to be the perfect place to spend our 48 hours before the beach house was ready. 

And then on Saturday, July 4th we arrived to Oak Island and were met with this view.  

These four girls had the best time together.  They ate almost all of their meals out here.  

The views from the house were perfect.  

We splurged on a private pool which turned out to be such a game changer.  Everybody loved it and we didn't have to worry about social distancing. 

Honey even got in on the fun.   

We got really lucky and had calm seas almost everyday we were there.  

It was exactly what our family needed after the stress of move prep and sad goodbyes.  

We lucked out with weather and only had a few passing storms.  It was really cool to watch the weather move in and out.  If you look closely, you can see the water spout in the background.  

Four little beach bums.  

Peter got the girls souvenirs one day when he went out to grab some groceries.  These pink hats were a hit.  

The girls had extensive sand creations going on this afternoon.  

Ready for another dinner al fresco on the porch.

Another fun beach day.

Snuggles with a view.

Peter was Dad of the year and played all the pool games with the kids.  

Dripping kids were banned to the porch to dry.  ;)

Bathed and dressed in pink for dinner.  

We ordered seafood take out a couple of times and Lindsey cooked delicious meals every other  night.  

The light was beautiful every single evening.  

One night we let the kids stay up late for crab hunting and night swimming in the pool.

They collected so many shells.  

And Delaney and Peter even went for an evening dip in the ocean. 

A dip and dot vendor came down the beach one day so we had to partake.  

On the last night we had the obligatory family photo night.  On the way to the pier, we saw a huge crab.  

Pure beauty.

We forgot SAs sunglasses so our pictures were a little squinty.  

The Paulsens were the perfect travel companions for us.  We didn't want the week to end.  

And these four did not want to say goodbye.

The grownups stayed up way too late every night.  We sat on the porch and solved all the world's problems.  The stars were amazing and we even saw a blood moon one night.   

The big girls.  

And the littles 

We didn't get to walk on the pier because we forgot our masks.  But we enjoyed its beauty from the shore.  

This is some sort of star wars pose apparently.  ;)

Mr. Zack made breakfast for the girls every morning, complete with fancy juice glasses.  

The next Saturday came waaay too quickly.  We hated to leave on this gorgeous day, but we had to head back to Alexandria to turn in the rental car and get ready for our flight to Kyiv.  

After two short nights in a townhouse in Old Town, we were in the uber on our way to Dulles.  These masks would stay on our faces for the next 24 hours.  

Our first flight to Frankfurt was packed, but we made the best of it and slept as much as we could.  

Honey was ready to be out of her crate by the time we landed.  

Our layover in Frankfurt was 6 hours long.  Luckily the terminal was basically empty (the emptiness of the airports was pretty eerie honestly) so we found a place for the girls and honey to stretch their legs for a few hours before getting some lunch at the one bakery that was open.   Then we made our way to our gate to pass the last hour or so.......at this point Honey and I passed out for a half hour or so and Susannah snapped this picture.  

After over an hour in traffic after landing in Kyiv, we finally made it to our house.  Our social sponsors were so kind and had the house so ready for us with groceries and wifi and SIM cards for our phones.  And this sweet welcome message at the front door.  

We were all zombies as we ate pizza and took showers.  We finally passed out around 10pm Kyiv time.  We had been awake for 36 hours by then.  

We have had fun exploring our neighborhood and one night we headed into downtown to have dinner with friends.  They took us on a walk after dinner to see some of the more famous sights in the city.   This is the famous Andreski Descent, one of the most beautiful streets in Kyiv.

And this is the famous St. Andrews Cathedral.

The pedestrian bridge we are on in this picture is so cool and was only constructed in the past year or so.  

Random street entertainers were everywhere.  $3 seemed like a steal to let the girls hold this owl.  ;)

They were delighted.  

Kyiv is known as the greenest capital city in Europe because of its plethora of parks.  We explored one near our house yesterday and found this random workout area in the middle of the forest.  

A Ukrainian outdoor punching bag.  

Susannah was so proud to get this huge log off the ground.  

SA tried her best.......

This thing was so heavy Peter couldn't even make it budge.  We were laughing wondering who built this extensive gym and who could actually lift all of the equipment.  

The girls have enjoyed sampling the ice cream around the neighborhood.  They have been such troopers.  Up for every adventure so far.  We are so proud of them.  

And there you have the last few weeks of life for the Mallorys.  It has been a wild and emotional ride, but we are so thankful for all of the prayers and support.  We hope all is well with all of you.  All our love and hugs from Kyiv!